DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS (EBV) NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODY ASSAY TO FACILITATE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROPHYLACTIC GP350-SUBUNIT EBV VACCINE

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Hui Liu
AstraZeneca

Lorraine Gemmell
Rui Lin
Fengrong Zuo
Henry H. Balfour, Jr.
University of Minnesota Medical School

Jennifer C. Woo
Gregory M. Hayes

Keywords

Epstein-Barr Virus, Gp350, Vaccine, Anti-gp350 IgG ELISA, Neutralization assay

Abstract

No licensed vaccine is available for prevention of EBV-associated diseases, and robust, sensitive, and high-throughput bioanalytical assays are needed to evaluate immunogenicity of gp350 subunit-based candidate EBV vaccines. Here we have developed and improved analytical tools for such a vaccine’s pre-clinical and clinical validation including a gp350-specific antibody detection assay and an EBV-GFP based neutralization assay for measuring EBV specific antibodies in human donors. The sensitivity of our previously published high-throughput EBV-GFP fluorescent focus (FFA)-based neutralization assay was further improved when guinea pig complement was supplemented using a panel of healthy human sera. Anti-gp350 antibody titers, which were evaluated using an anti-gp350 IgG ELISA assay optimized for capture and detection conditions, were moderately correlated to the FFA-based neutralization titers. Overall, these sensitive, and high-throughput bioanalytical assays are capable of characterizing the serologic response to natural EBV infection, with applications in evaluating EBV antibody status in epidemiologic studies and immunogenicity of candidate gp350-subunit EBV vaccines in clinical studies.

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Published
Feb 26, 2020
DOI https://doi.org/10.4084/mjhid.2020.016

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How to Cite

Liu, H. (2020) “DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS (EBV) NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODY ASSAY TO FACILITATE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROPHYLACTIC GP350-SUBUNIT EBV VACCINE”, Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases, 12(1), p. e2020016. doi: 10.4084/mjhid.2020.016.
Issue
Vol. 12 No. 1 (2020): Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases, Volume 12, 2020
Section
Original Articles

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